China driving sales of Kawasaki robots
Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. is predicting sales of its robots will get a boost from a labor squeeze in the world's largest manufacturing nation.
Robot sales at the company will climb at least 67 percent in the next four years, $923 million in the 12 months starting April 2020, Kawasaki Heavy President Yoshinori Kanehana said in Tokyo. Sales will be led by China, where demand is rising for robotic car-assembly and two-armed robots used by computer and mobile-phone makers, he said.
The Japanese maker of industrial products ranging from aircraft parts to ships and trains forecasts that sales will be led by China's $11 billion robot market as the nation's working-age population shrinks and it faces a long-term shortage of skilled workers in some sectors. Kawasaki Heavy has sold about 2,000 of its two-armed duAro robots to buyers such as mobile-phone makers and food manufacturers since beginning mass production of the product two years ago, Kanehana said.
"We expect demand in China to keep increasing for the next few years," he said. "The country is suffering from a lack of workers. They need more robots."
Robotics is part of Kawasaki Heavy's precision machinery division, which accounted for 10 percent of the company's total sales of 1.52 trillion yen in the year that ended in March, and about 29 percent of overall operating profit.
-- Bloomberg News
Kik says ICO not happening in Canada
Kik Interactive Inc., a Canadian messaging app preparing to hold one of the highest-profile initial coin offerings yet, said it won't allow investors from its home country to participate in the offering.
Chief Executive Officer Ted Livingston blamed "weak guidance" from the Ontario Securities Commission for the decision.
"They have failed to give us clear direction on when Canadian securities law will or, more importantly, will not apply," Livingston said in a blog post. "To avoid risks arising from this uncertainty, we, a Canadian company, have decided to move forward without Canada."
Regulators around the world have expressed concerns with ICOs. In Kik's case, it plans to sell tokens that can be used to buy services on its platform. The idea is that as more people use Kik, the value of their tokens will rise. The Canadian Securities Administrators said in August it would decide whether an ICO should be considered an offering of securities on a case-by-case basis.
The move could count as a strike against Canada's efforts -- spearheaded by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- to style itself as a haven for young, innovative tech companies. Still, ICOs are generally seen as a risky new form of fundraising, especially by Canada's traditionally conservative financial establishment.
-- Bloomberg News
Stop taxi violence, Uber tells S. Africa
JOHANNESBURG -- Uber says South Africa's government must do more to prevent taxi driver violence after at least one vehicle using the ride-hailing app was set on fire.
South African transport minister Joe Maswanganyi on Friday denounced the clashes a day earlier between metered taxi drivers and competitors who use the Uber app in Johannesburg's upscale Sandton district.
Police say two Uber-linked vehicles were set on fire. Uber confirms that one of the cars was registered to use its app and that the driver was "not seriously injured."
South African media quote authorities as saying some drivers using the Uber app retaliated by throwing stones, and police fired rubber bullets to restore order.
-- The Associated Press
Staten Island to get Amazon warehouse
Amazon.com Inc. is opening its first fulfillment center in New York, part of an ongoing push to store inventory closer to customers to enable faster deliveries.
The new 855,000 square-foot facility is planned for Staten Island, the Seattle-based e-commerce company said last week. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called the center, about the size of Buckingham Palace, "state-of-the-art." It will create more than 2,250 full-time jobs and feature innovative technology including Amazon Robotics working alongside employees to pick, pack and ship items such as household essentials, books and toys.
Until now, Amazon has served the New York market from facilities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Staten Island warehouse is part of its push to keep inventory closer to buyers so it can deliver items more quickly, bringing the experience of shopping online closer to the instant gratification of a trip to the store.
Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, has been laying plans for new fulfillment centers across the United States and the globe as it broadens its offerings from books and toys to groceries. The New York center marks one of 21 new U.S. warehouses announced so far this year that will employ more than 25,000 people.
-- Bloomberg News
Billionaire wants Toshiba’s chip unit
Terry Gou, the billionaire behind Apple's iPhone factories, is pressing his case to acquire Toshiba's memory chips business for $19.5 billion in a last-ditch effort to beat out two American buyout firms in the tumultuous auction.
Gou's Foxconn Technology Group has broad support for its offer from Apple, SoftBank Group Corp. and Sharp Corp. and is ready to proceed right away, said Louis Woo, a spokesman for the company, whose primary listed arm is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. The price tag compares with a rival bid led by Bain Capital and one from a KKR & Co.-led group.
"The bid speaks for itself. It is deal certainty," Woo said. "What this customer consortium means is that it will provide steady funds to Toshiba to advance their R&D. At the same time, it's a guarantee there will be more customers lining up to buy their products when they increase their capacity or have better products."
Toshiba declined to comment.
The industrial and electronics manufacturer is still negotiating with three groups in the auction of its most valuable business, after failing to secure a final deal with the preferred bidder it selected in June. The effort has been hampered by political opposition and litigation from partner Western Digital Corp. Japanese government officials have opposed selling the chips unit to Foxconn because of its close ties to China, home to much of the Taiwanese company's sprawling manufacturing operation.
"We just hope the board directors of Toshiba will make a decision on commercial terms, on business terms, on technology terms, rather than political terms," Woo said.
Toshiba needs to raise the money by March to repair its balance sheet and avoid being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Any delay could result in it missing that deadline because of the time needed to get regulatory approval and close the deal.
-- Bloomberg News
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